


Regan and Finn Reunited

by presidentbees



Category: Original Work
Genre: Apocalypse, Long-Distance Friendship, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Original Fiction, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-14 05:37:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11776584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/presidentbees/pseuds/presidentbees
Summary: During the apocalypse, two long distance friends happen to reunite in an unexpected place.





	1. First Meeting

Walking into the city, the small group of survivors looked at what was left of the city. The tiny streets were eerily devoid of any cars or bikes; a chill wind blew through the street, kicking up litter and sending it skittering past the group. Night was falling fast, and the temperature was beginning to drop.

“We need to find shelter,” Nicole said, her voice muffled by the gas mask around her face. “What does the map say is close to here?” 

“Let me see, uh, there’s a restaurant pretty close to here and that’s supposed to be a safe place to spend the night, but those are usually raider hotspots so I don’t think that would be safe and uh, there’s a city hall type place a few miles away, but it’ll take us maybe thirty minutes to walk that far so, uh, what we see is what options we’ve got.” TJ looked up from the map, surveying the area around them. They were all tourist shops with broken windows -- hardly a good hiding place for the night. 

Finn watched as band of feral cats slipped into the shadows, their eyes glinting in the dying light as they regarded his mask curiously. The cats looked well fed, and Finn wondered if that was because of the abundance of rats near the marina, or from other sources of food. 

TJ coughed, trying to clear their throat. “I think we should, uh, we should try to find this here--” TJ was interrupted by another round of hacking coughs. Pulling their scarf over their face, TJ used their free hand to turn the map toward Finn and Nicole, showing a circled portion of map labeled ‘townhome’. 

“Townhomes, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Finn trusted TJ’s decisions, but going near a living area seemed reckless. 

“Positive,” TJ croaked before handing the map over to Amira. Silently, Amira regarded the map, then nodded and began heading down the road. Finn stuck close to TJ’s side, ready to support them if TJ had another coughing fit. Nicole brought up the rear, hands deep in her pockets and as she kept her head on swivel. 

The only noises in the city were the sounds of plastic being blown by the wind, sneakers scuffling against the pavement, and TJ’s muffled coughing. Finn tried to rub TJ’s back, but they shrank away, not wanting to be touched. The four of them made their way through the city as Amira took them through small side streets, occasionally coming back out onto a main road to get her bearings before leading the group back into the dusky alleyways. 

Nicole pressed closer to Finn and TJ, not trusting the tightness of the small streets, but Amira seemed perfectly at home. She silently slipped over large dumpers and skirted around piles of rotted bodies like this was a Sunday stroll in the park for her. With Nicole’s help, Finn managed to lift TJ over a pile of foul smelling trash bags. Finn was practically carrying TJ at this point; they needed to stop and let TJ catch their breath, but the group needed to get to the shelter -- night has fallen and they were in the dark.

“Amira, how much farther?” Finn quietly hissed, struggling to keep TJ on his back. “It’s not -- this isn’t safe at all.” 

Nicole made a grunt of agreement, keeping one hand on Finn’s large, fursuit head. She hadn’t told the group, but without her glasses, she was nearly blind after the sun went down. 

Amira didn’t make a sound, but instead just continued ahead, purposefully kicking a milk jug in order to give everybody a direction to follow. Rolling his eyes, Finn adjusted TJ’s grip around his neck and continued forward. Following the sound of litter being kicked, Nicole and Finn walked out to find Amira on the main road, beaming excitedly at them. Behind her, there was a road leading to a pair of gates leading into a cluster of townhomes. 

“Safe Waters Living Community,” Finn read aloud, just barely making out the sign in the dying light. “It’s a townhouse community for like, elderly people. That’s--” 

“--really smart.” Nicole finished Finn’s thought for him, giving his shoulder a squeeze. “Nobody would think of going to a senior center for supplies. Good thinking TJ, Amira.” 

Amira clapped her hands, turning from the three of them and racing ahead toward the gates. Finn made a strangled noise and moved to run after her, but Nicole’s hand held him back. “She’ll be fine. There’s nothing around here to hurt us.” 

As soon as the words left her mouth, bright lights flooded the night, blinding the group. Finn shut his eyes and turned away, using his mask to block the light. Amira gave a hoarse yell and she scrambled back to the group, the safety of her darkness gone. 

“ATTENTION RAIDERS.” a voice boomed through unseen speakers. “YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY. LEAVE NOW. VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT.” 

Nicole reached into her pocket and pulled out her baton. Flicking her wrist and snapping it to its full length, she moved in front of the group. “We’re not raiders! We’re civilians looking for a place to spend the night!” she shouted, her voice carrying in the cold air. 

“YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY. LEAVE NOW. VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT,” the voice repeated. 

Finn’s hands were full with holding up TJ, he couldn't drag Nicole away. “We need to go before all of this light and noise draws any other attention.” 

“I know, I know, but I’m worried about TJ and--” 

“YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY. LEAVE NOW. VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT.” 

Nicole snapped. “We’re getting there! Give us a second!” 

There was the sound of a rifle firing and the cobblestone in front of Nicole exploded into a small shower of debris. “LEAVE. NOW.” 

Nicole looked back at Finn, panic written across her face. She and Finn would survive the night, no problem. It would be uncomfortable, but their jackets would provide enough warmth -- the twins, TJ and Amira, they were the ones that Nicole was worried about. “Please, for the kids,” she whispered. 

Slowly, Finn lowered TJ to the ground, letting them slip off of his back and into Amira’s arms. The two of them shivered, on the ground. TJ had their face buried in their scarf, trying to stifle their body wracking coughs, while Amira looped one of her thin arms around TJ’s shoulders. 

Finn stepped forward, making sure to keep his hands away from his pockets as he reached up under his mask, digging his fingers into the faux fur and feeling for the edge of the foam mask. Lifting up the head, Finn’s eyes immediately began to water in the cold air. 

“We’re unarmed and we need a place to stay.” Finn yelled, gesturing back toward TJ and Amira. “We have two kids -- please, they won’t make it through the night if they don’t have proper shelter. One of them has asthma and needs someplace warm to rest. We--” Finn let his voice falter a bit, for dramatic effect “--we’ve come all this way to find their parents. At least take the kids in for the night, for their sake.” 

There was silence from the gate. Squinting, Finn could make out the shape of figures running toward the gate. He stepped back, preparing to yell for Noel to grab TJ and run, when a different voice crackled through the speakers. 

“HOLY FUCK -- FINN, IS THAT YOU?” 

Finn flinched back. “Uh, yes? That’s me?” 

“FINN IT’S ME. IT’S REGAN -- RIBBY. FROG GIRL.” 

Shocked, Finn almost dropped his fursuit head. The speakers heavily distorted Regan’s voice, but after years of skype calls, there was no mistake that it was her. “ReeRee?!?”

“YEAH, THAT’S ME! DON’T WORRY, I’VE GOT YOU. GIVE US A SECOND TO GET THE GATES OPEN. SORRY ABOUT THAT.” 

The blinding lights switched off. People with flashlights jogged out of the open gates, their soft yellow beams bouncing across the road as they made their way toward the small group. Somebody grabbed Finn’s arm, roughly dragging him past the gates and into the townhouse community. Behind Finn, he heard scuffling as Nicole, TJ, and Amira were grabbed in a similar fashion. 

All of the lights of the townhouses were off, except for one. There was a woman standing in front of the door -- Finn was relieved to see that she was unarmed -- and she ushered the group into the house before locking the door behind them. Finn’s guard let go of his arm, joining up with the guard that had been holding onto Nicole.

“That was a rush,” one of the guards joked as he carried TJ farther into the house. “You good, little man? We’ve got a futon back here for you to lay on if you want. Uh, Terry, can I get your help getting the futon folded out?” 

Amira slipped out of her guard’s grasp, trailing behind TJ and his guard like a silent shadow. Nicole looked over at Finn. “What the hell was that? Who is Ribby?” 

“Ribby, ReeRee, Regan -- she was one of my friends, well, online friends. We were close for a long while and we had always joked that I should come up to Canada to visit but, I didn’t actually think that I could find her.” 

Nicole gave him an exasperated look. “So is this why you agreed to come up to Canada? To find an internet friend?” 

“I’m not saying that, but--” 

Finn was interrupted by a yell. From the top of the stairs, a girl in sweatpants streaked out of a bedroom, green hair escaping its messy bun as she practically flew down the stairs. “Finn!” she yelled. “My guy! I didn’t think I was ever going to see you in the flesh, oh my god!” 

Taking Finn by his shoulders, Regan looked down at Finn, a grin plastered across her face. “You’re so much smaller than I thought you were going to be in real life! And your hair! It’s growing out! You look so good! I can’t believe this! Did you find my note? How did you know how to find me?” 

Finn was in shock, his mouth hanging open as Regan chattered on, picking at his clothing and hair and barely giving him a chance to respond. “I -- I didn’t know you sent me a message,” he stammered. “I just -- I mean, we were just passing through on a lead that there was a safe place to stay. I remembered you saying something about--” 

“--living in Ottawa! With my moms! Right! I was living there, but then I moved here!” Regan nodded her head excitedly, her green hair falling in front of her face in uneven chunks. “Oh!! It’s your fursuit head! You brought it with you! I can’t believe how well it’s held up -- oop, it’s got a scratch on it. I’ll get that worked out for you later!” 

Regan took the head from Finn’s hands, turning it over and looking at it from all the different angles. She waved her hand in front of her face comically. “Phew, couldn’t find any Febreze while you were on the road?” 

“ReeRee, you know you can’t use Febreze on a suit, but also, you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find air fresheners in the apocalypse.” 

Turning the fursuit over in her hands, Regan slipped on the head and adjusted the cowel around her shoulders, fluffing out the matted fur the best that she could. Finn could practically hear her gears whirring as Regan thought of the energy and work it would take to bring the head back into proper condition -- or making a new head altogether, a better version of the first.

“Really? No joke?” Regan said, her voice muffled as she looked at Finn with the bright orange eyes. “I thought food was always going to be the first thing to go.” 

Finn started laughing, then stopped, realizing that Regan was serious. “You haven’t gone out much, have you?”

“Not really, I’ve mostly been cooped up here, taking care of my grandparents and such, you know how it is.” Regan ran her hands over the suit’s ears, trying to comb out the stiff patches of fur. “It’s not my job to go out anyway -- that’s for the Beef Cakes.” 

“Beef Cakes?” 

Regan nodded her head over toward the woman who had opened the door for the group. She and Nicole had struck up a conversation and were talking enthusiastically about the defense of the townhouses. “Beef Cakes, Runners, Wall Patrol, whatever they want to be called. Civilians that found us here and decided to stick around for, uh, work exchange.” 

“Regan--” 

“No time for that though!” Regan interrupted. Wiggling out of the fursuit, Regan handed the head back to Finn and tried to smooth her hair back down. “I’ll catch you up on everything here tomorrow. Let’s see if we can scrounge up something for you to eat . We’ve got a ton of pudding cups like, mountains of boxes of pudding cups. Do you like those? We only have vanilla left at this point, but we’ve got some baggies of baby carrots if you want those.” 

“I’ll take a pudding cup.” Finn followed Regan as she walked into the house. There were still pictures on the wall -- smiling faces of grandbabies and family portraits -- and Finn felt deeply unnerved about being inside of somebody’s house like this. It was like he was an uninvited guest. 

The kitchen had been decorated to look like a seaside cottage, with baby blue walls and decorative shells lining the windowsill. There were two guards -- Beef Cakes -- dressed makeshift padding gear and leaning against the counter, sharing a water bottle between the two of them and talking lightly. Opening one of the cabinets, Finn watched as Regan took a nondescript box off of the shelf, opening up the side and taking out a pudding cup. She tossed it over to Finn, who caught it deftly. 

“We’re out of spoons, so you’ll just have to use the lid as a scoop.” Regan hopped up on the counter next to the guards, swinging her legs. “This is Jamal and Terry, they’re finally admitting that they’re together after like, three months of being awkward.” 

Jamal choked on his sip of water and started coughing, not expecting to get called out. Terry patted him on the arm, laughing. “It’s good, it’s good.” 

Regan smiled, gesturing to the other two guards who were in the living room with TJ and Amira. “That’s Katie and Rooster. Katie is deaf and she doesn’t read lips, so you’ll need to write stuff down if you two want to have a conversation. Or find Rooster to interpret for you, but good luck with that. The guy is like a ghost whenever you need him.” 

The foil on Finn’s pudding cup had ripped, so he was taking his time with awkwardly taking sips from the cup. “Oh, no that’s fine. I actually know a bit of sign language now.” 

“Dude, really? When did you pick that up?” 

Finn gestured to Amira, who was happily signing with Rooster as Katie helped TJ get comfortable on the living room futon. It was the first time that Finn had seen Amira genuinely smile in ages.

“Is she deaf too?” Regan asked, interested. 

“Nah, she’s nonverbal. Or, I think the correct term is selectively mute? Either way, she doesn’t talk.” Finn took another sip of pudding. “From what TJ says, she never really talked much when they were growing up, then when everything started going downhill, she just stopped talking altogether.” 

“Where’d she learn how to sign?” 

“She and TJ are twins, TJ explained that their parents are deaf. According to him, they live in Canada. I uh, sort of picked them both up on the way here with Nicole.” 

Regan smiled and raised one green eyebrow. “Nicole? I was meaning to ask if there was anything there with that. I didn’t ever peg you for the type of guy who had a thing for older women, but the apocalypse brings out some strange desires in people.”

“Regan, please. You know I would never.” 

“Pfffft. I’m joking. Please don’t ever take me seriously, dude. I’m the only source of semi-youthful entertainment in this entire place and--” Regan paused, looking from TJ and Amira, then back to Finn, grinning. “You manipulative dick! You said you had kids! You had me feeling all heroic that I had just helped rescue two innocent orphans off of the street, but these kids are what, secondary school age?” 

Finn grinned back. “They’re both 15, and since when have I ever been anything other than a manipulative dick? What was it that you used to say…” 

“Never trust a nurse: they’ll only tell you what you want to hear.” 

“Bingo.” Finn crumpled his empty pudding cup and looked for a trashcan. Regan hopped off the counter and took it from his hand, putting it on the counter.

“I’ll take that out in the morning. For now, you look like you could use some sleep in a real bed.” 

As wired as he was, Finn could already feel his body beginning to shut down at the mention of a bed. How long had it been since he had slept in a real, actual bed? Too long. 

Ruffling his hair, Regan wrapped one arm around Finn’s shoulder and guided him upstairs, chatting nonstop. “In the morning, I’ll give you a formal tour of the place and let you meet everybody. Oh! You’re going to get to meet my grandparents! You’re going to love them, they’re such sweethearts. I’ll also have to show you the garden -- do you like gardening? -- and then after that I’ll introduce you to Benny at the front desk, I think you’ll like him. Oh! I’ll have to wake you up to feed the cats too. We have the cutest stray cats that come by in the morning because we have tons of cat food left over, so we started putting it out for them and one of the momma cat just had little bitty kittens so we’ve been trying to coax her to bring the kittens near the gate. There’s also the clinic, it’s not technically a part of Safe Waters, so we might need to find Rooster or somebody to take us outside of the gates, but I’m sure that we could get you over there if you were interested in getting set up here--”

Leading Finn past several rooms, he was able to peek in and see a blonde haired man hunched over a series of monitors and laptops -- he must have been the original voice that had talked to them through the speakers -- then Finn was being lead into a dark room. Regan flipped on a switch and saw a plain looking room. It was decorated with a bed, a nightstand, and a lamp. There was a window, but blackout shades had been drawn over them -- Finn realized that all of the windows in the house had been drawn with the same shades, smart. 

“Here you go! It’s nothing fancy, but I’m sure that--” 

Finn was already walking across the room, planting face first onto the comforter. It smelled like cedar balls and baking soda, but the two smells had never been more comforting. Kicking off his shoes, Finn didn’t bother with removing his jacket or clothing as he crawled underneath the blankets. 

Regan laughed, crossing her arms as she watched Finn burrowed into the blankets until only a bright spot of orange hair could be seen. “You comfortable?” 

Finn grunted in acknowledgement from his blanket burrito. 

“Do you want me to turn off the lights?” 

Another grunt. “Yeah.” 

“Do you want some company in there?” 

“Ree.” 

“Shhhh, I’m joking -- I’m kidding with you.” Regan went over to the light switch, flicking it back off. “Night, Finn. We’ll have to catch up in the morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [this is Regan’s face](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/329451026715508739/342094719922339850/regan.png), and this is [Finn’s original reference](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/329451026715508739/336630522052608001/NormalAppImage15.png), but [here’s a version](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/329451026715508739/339281654931783682/NormalAppImage16.png) of him without his motorcycle jacket on. He’s a very fearsome wickerbeast, don’t let his scrawny arms convince you otherwise. 
> 
> At the moment, I’m using Finn in a Rabbit Doubt session (which is also post-apocalyptic, but based off of The Last of Us), and I’m liking his character development! Regan was recently in a Bunny Doubt, and the transcript for that will be up soon. Can’t wait to write more about these nerds soon.


	2. Platonic Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn is having insecurities and Regan encourages him to open up by breaking out one of the last battery powered, portable DVD players and putting on a movie for the two of them.

Finn let out a sigh of relief, bringing Regan’s hand back up to his lips as he nibbled across her knuckles in a worried gesture. “Thank god, I finally got that out.” his voice was tired and strained. “That’s been tearing me up for ages. I was afraid that if I actually said it aloud then you would, you know, sort of stop…” 

His voice trailed off, mumbling into nothing at Regan continued to comb her fingers through his hair. She had Finn wrapped up as a little spoon, letting him face away from her so that he could keep watching the muted movie while Regan stroked his hair with one hand, and let Finn play with the other. 

“I would stop liking you?” Regan scoffed. “Dude, no offense, but I don’t think that’s goin’ to happen. I’ve been friends with people with a lot heavier baggage than you, and also like, if you haven’t noticed, I consider you to be sort of like, my best friend and a little bit more.” 

“Do you really?” Finn’s eyes were fixed on the screen, the flashing lights playing across his face. 

Regan let out a ‘hmmm’ and buried her face in the back of Finn’s head, his red curls soft against her skin. He smelled like soap and shampoo; clean, like he was. There was also something a little chemical, like rubbing alcohol or ammonia, but mostly he just smelled like ‘boy’. “Mmm, when I was little, my mom used to come into my room and tell me a thing. It was like, specifically for kids when they were having sleep anxiety and you know the like, type of fears that kids get when their parents leave and they’re alone and everything seems like, ten times scarier than they really are. I had that majorly bad and let’s be real, I still do--” 

Finn’s teeth grazed Regan’s knuckles a little sharper than needed. “The point,” he murmured. 

“Oh, yeah, the point so that’s with making sure that the kid knows that everything is okay.” Regan kissed the back of Finn’s head. “I love you today, I love you tomorrow, I love you forever. Even when I’m not here, my feelings about you don’t change. No matter how far away I go, I will always come back to you when you need me.” 

Wiggling in Regan’s arms, Finn rolled over so that he could look Regan in the face. His gray eyes were serious. “You love me? Really?” 

“Totes platonic, goofball.” Regan kissed his forehead. “I’m proud of you for opening up to me.” 

Regan wrapped her arms around Finn, one hand still idly scratching at his hair as she started to drift off to sleep. Finn made a contented noise and buried his nose into Regan’s collarbone, snuggling in closer. ‘Tomorrow,’ Finn thought, ‘I’ll have to tell her the rest of my secrets.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got sad and wrote some platonic fluff because gosh, I love these two. 
> 
> Regan only has a loose concept of what counts as "more than friends" comfort, so this is really normal for her. She honestly means all of this in a platonic way though. I'm just a huge sucker for best friends and comfort fluff, so Finn and Regan's relationship fits that bill perfectly.


End file.
